1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices. Specifically, the present invention relates to devices for facilitating the suturing of biological tissue.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sutures are frequently used to close various openings such as cuts, punctures, and incisions in various places in the human body. Because of their importance and frequent use, several types of sutures and devices for their implantation and extraction have been developed. Typically, suturing is performed by repeatedly passing a sharp suture needle attached to a length of suture material through portions of tissue to be sutured together, thereby forming loops of suture material passing through the tissue. The free ends of the suture material are then tied together to complete the suturing procedure.
There are however some circumstances under which it is not feasible to use conventional sutures and suturing methods to close an opening. It is often difficult to reach some suture sites with existing suturing devices because of the depth of the suture site within the human anatomy, the size of the suture site, and/or the restriction of surrounding organs and tissue. For example, where the tissue to be sutured is within the patient's thorax (such as for an end-to-side anastomosis in a cardiac bypass procedure), traditional methods of suturing are invasive and time consuming.